2024 BOOK REVIEW #11: THE LAND OF MY FATHERS BY ROBERT LAXALT

I was recently paid in books to review another book (which I’m not including on this list due to having signed a confidential agreement about that process), and as part of that lot I received a Robert Laxalt book I had yet to read, The Land of My Fathers, A Son’s Return to the Basque County.

Going from long lost relative to newfound relative in small Basque villages in the French Pyrenees over 60 years ago, from market days to festivals, harvests to hunts, valleys to mountain hills with sheep and sheepherders, it’s a literary anthropological and introspective guide about distinctly proud people and the beautiful rugged nature surrounding them.

The recurring comparisons and differences between those who have been to the “new world,” those who came back and won’t go back and those who have never been are fascinating.

I’ve only visited that specific region a few times, but have surfed and cycled nearby on several unforgettable vacations. Southwest France where the Basques live on the French side is one of my favorite spots on earth with forests, greenery, a wild ocean and humid mountains all around.

It’s always nice to read more by Laxalt, the celebrated Basque-American writer from Nevada, whose name graces an evening and a prestigious student award at the journalism school where I now teach, and where he taught for 18 years.

According to an excellent article by Ray Hagar for the Reno Gazette Journal his four basic points of writing were 1. Write about what you know, 2. Take notes, 3. Use short sentences and active verbs (that’s a good tip for me :) and 4. Save a literary morsel for the end of the story.

Here’s one from The Land of My Fathers:

“The rocky bluffs and sheer precipices above my mother’s village, Baigorry, should be stark and brutal. But at dusk, they are violet and soft and inviting.”